A few months ago I saw an entry to the Foodstuffs Emerging Supplier competition and thought, why the heck not!

Now this is a competition worth its weight in gold! With an amazing reputation and foodies and entrepreneurs entering from all over NZ the entries are huge! With one of the prizes being a spot on all New World shelves in the North Island in the mix… why would you not enter?

Among others you get access to information, marketing and data! Gosh, this is almost better than winning $50k!

Knowledge is power in the end!

Anyway, so off I went and completed my paperwork, sent off the neccessary information and waited!!

To be notified of being a semi- finalist was absolutely amazing! Truly inspiring to know that what I am doing is going somewhere! Someone is looking and seeing and acknowledging!

Unfortunately, it came at the worst time for me! I was scheduled for some horrible surgery! Not only have I been dealing with the side effects of this issue for two years but I have always known at some point this little bugger would have to be removed and I would need a Craniotomy! Yes- you read that correct, in fact I had 2 within 5 days of each other as I had a CSF leak coming out of my nose while still in hospital!

So, this amazing humbling news came at the worst time for me and my family! We were stretched and pulled to our limits, the kids were all over the place and I was not in any space to mentally deal with it! I was not prepaired to have my head chopped open, twice!

So, needless to say, I didnt get any further other than a semi- finalist! I fumbled and slacked through the next phase, a video presentation and my mind was not with it, not were it should of been and it is what it is! There is nothing I can do about it now but go - what if? And thats not how I roll!!

So, from me, sitting on the couch outside soaking up some much needed TLC from the little bit of sun thats left over from today I am so thankfull for officialy being 13 days post op from the second round, stitches are out and Im having a realy good recovery, except for the issues I knew I would have going into this, permanent issues, Im learning to deal with them, one interesting step at a time, the new niggles are healing and some are starting to look better and I should make a full recovery from!

I am thankfull to have been a part of the Foodstuffs Emerging Supplier competition, it showed me what to expect, what to work on and where I am lacking and slacking!! Truly a humbeling experience in its own right!

To everyone that was part of this journey, weather you helped me with videos, photos or just words of encouragement, you are all an incredible part of my journey and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and my soul!